During the Fourth of July long weekend, Texas experienced a devastating flood. Kerr County got the brunt of the flooding on the morning of the 4th, and reportedly, more than 129 people died, with 166 people missing. Many of the dead and missing are children who were camping in the area too. This was a “perfect storm” of deadly incompetence at every level. At the local level, Kerr County officials were literally asleep as their residents were trying to survive a historic flood. At the state level, Texas Republicans have destroyed anything resembling natural-disaster response, and Texans have consistently voted to reject federal assistance and FEMA aid. At the federal level, the Trump administration has already gutted FEMA and gutted emergency-weather models and warning systems. Well, here’s one of the worst parts of an already horrific story: Texans were trying to call FEMA’s call center in the wake of the disaster, but Kristi Noem fired all of the call-center workers:
Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.
The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The details on the unanswered calls on July 6, which have not been previously reported, come as FEMA faces intense scrutiny over its response to the floods in Texas that have killed more than 120 people. The agency, which President Trump has called for eliminating, has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts.
On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls. That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
Firing FEMA call-center workers 24 hours after a deadly flooding in a Republican state… I feel sorry for the people who didn’t vote for this, and I feel really sorry for all of the children. But the people who voted for Trump and found their calls to FEMA unanswered… well, this is democracy in action. Elections have consequences, and they knew that ICE Barbie was going to be this deplorable. They just thought she was going to be deplorable to other people! Not only did Noem fire all of these FEMA call center folks, she also delayed sending FEMA search-and-rescue teams to Texas until Monday the 7th, three days after the floods.
CNN: According to four officials inside FEMA.. a new rule that any expected expenditure over $100,000 needed sign off from Noem slowed the federal response.
The sources tell us that FEMA's deployment of urban search and rescue teams, which are typically deployed in… pic.twitter.com/6o1SRT7n9t
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 10, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota appears before a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing on H.R. 3397, to require the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw a rule of the Bureau of Land Management relating to conservation and landscape health, in the Longworth House Office Building. Featuring: Kristi Noem Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 15 Jun 2023 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem returns to the West Wing after speaking to the media ash the White House Featuring: Kristi Noem Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 10 Mar 2025 Credit: Chris Kleponis/CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem participates in a Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC Featuring: Kristi Noem Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 08 Jul 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
Well the maga crowd got what they voted for but they were too dumb to realize they voted against themselves. Again seems like the republicans don’t give two shits for children! They make sure they are born so they can begin the process of killing them.
Of course, the children of poor people are not important. Neither are their poor parents, because they constantly rob the rich by taking welfare and receiving other benefits. They are parasites, whom politicians only remember before elections, because some of these parasites might vote. Then, they are promised various things to improve their standard of living, and after winning the election, these promises are not fulfilled. And this is not only the case in the US.
The children from that girls camp are actually from mostly very wealthy families. It was a camp attended by upper class Houston and Dallas families who have been sending kids there for decades and decades. Maybe they didn’t realize this but I’m sure there will be more of swift fix once these families start suing and complaining to higher level people in Texas. I don’t think this is going to blow over the way it would if it was all poor families who were affected.
Seeing what they voted for in action is the only positive for since Trump was elected. MAGA thought Trump was going after Democrats, minorities, women, etc. They didn’t bother to research that Trump’s policies effects MAGA, republicans, and red states the most.
Serial killers always start by killing animals. She is exactly who she told us she is.
But MAGAts owned the libs, so there’s that
Heckuva job, Noemi.
Kristi Noem and everyone in the Trump administration responsible for cutting funding should be forced to view the dead bodies of those lost. This whole disaster has been very personal for my family. I had two granddaughters at Mystic, the camp where so many girls were lost. One of my granddaughters only survived due to the heroic efforts of her counselors. The water was rising and the girls were on mattresses floating 2 feet from the ceiling when their counselor managed to break out a window and they all escaped.into neck deep water. The girls managed to get to higher ground and about 8 hours later they were rescued by Blackhawk helicopters . That day we knew that some campers were missing and it was hours until we found out our girls were safe. They were the lucky ones. But we have many friends who lost children. The first funeral among our friends’ families was yesterday, a precious 8 year old girl. It is unbelievably tragic here. We knew a whole family that was lost when their house was swept away. There is so much loss of life that I think we are all in shock. We have many more funerals to attend. I would love to personally slap every Republican and MAGA fool who gave us Trump and his band of incompetents. Elections have consequences . Vote dammit!
@Giddy: Wow I can’t even imagine what you went through waiting to find out if your granddaughters were ok. So glad you got good news and not the horrific news others received!
@Giddy, I’m so sorry your granddaughters had to experience this tragedy in person and for your friends’ losses of their precious children. The scale of the flooding is difficult to comprehend. I also live in a red state where officials routinely respond to natural disasters by obfuscating responsibility and telling everyone to pray harder, and it’s maddening.
🫶🫶🫶 I couldn’t stand to read or hear about the girls at the campground. I have a 13 year old grandniece who I have helped raise and it all hit too close to home. It’s hard to imagine your agony as you waited for word on your granddaughters. I’m very relieved for you and them. The evil we are all forced to live with is gutting and traumatic.
Oh, Giddy, I am so sorry this has happened to your family and your community.
What a scary thing for your family to go through! I’m so glad there was a happy ending for you. I hope your granddaughters recover from their trauma.
I’m so sorry for your loss. 💔
Glad your grandkids are safe.
May we sweep these people out of office, ASAP.
Giddy, I’m so sorry this happened to your family and your community. The suffering must be compounded by the anger that your community was so mistreated by those who have sworn to help.
So happy to hear your granddaughters managed to escape. This is such a tragic failure of government in all levels in Texas. Perhaps this tragedy may be the motivation for real change and effective government on all levels. The callousness with which this MAGA government is treating even the red states should be a wake up call for everyone.
Giddy, I’m so sorry for what you endured.
Those camp counselors were truly heroic.
Hugs to you all Giddy and to your grandbabies. This should never have happened. Please whenever you are able, let us know what we can do in terms of donating for anything at all. We were horrified for those girls all the way from Canada. I’m so sorry for Texas and I’m so sorry for the people who lost their lives and that your grandbabies went through that trauma
I am so sorry for the horror you and your community have experienced. Thank goodness for the bravery of the camp counselors.
The reason Noem implemented that new rule about needing her signature for any expenses over $100,000 is because Homeland Security is already massively over budget due to the ICE goon squads and bounty hunters disappearing brown people. They’ve spent the entire budget for the year in just the first six months. And Noem is not just incompetent. Never forget that one of the symptoms of a potential serial killer is killing innocent animals. Like puppies and goats.
That won’t be a problem anymore. The Ugly Bill steals from the poor so psycho barbie can continue her perfomative displays of torture and terror. That is exactly what people wanted when they voted for the 2025 manifesto, and I don’t believe for a second that a single voter for dump did not want exactly what they got.
But they were already gutting FEMA through the stupid Elno Musk cuts–firing of probationary employees, deferred resignations, early retirements–and made all contracting have to go through GSA. Under ordinary circumstances (i.e., a professional federal workforce), the contract renewal process would have been in the works long ago; instead, we have a convoluted process combined with an absolute psycho at the head of the department & we get this.
Whatever. Republicans succeeded at one of the only 2 things they really care about — TAX CUTS!!! https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/10/texas-kerr-county-commissioners-flooding-warning/
It’s like watching a terrible wax figure trying to talk😬Hopefully this is their wake up call, of course now their wondering why the idiots they voted for have no idea what they’re doing.
There is a really good TikTok going around by someone from South Dakota, basically pointing out that the state is so small that it’s basically like high school. All about being chummy and cliquey. The women focus on being hot, hence all of Noem’s weird photo ops. The creator pointed out that Noem is probably very confused this is likely the first time in her life that showing up looking super thin and ultra hot hasn’t gotten her everything she wanted.
Another point – it’s really looking like the locals had an informal flood alert system for themselves and didn’t see notifying “outsiders” as something they were really responsible for. Those “outsiders” are probably more politically connected at the state level than the local sheriff and his buddies, so it looks like there may be some hell to pay for them. And they deserve it. Uvalde all over again. This is cosplay law enforcement, good for nothing but bullying.
This camp is popular among the well off and children of political and professional elites. The Bush twins went there (Laura Bush was a counselor herself when she was young). I can only hope that this will nudge our horrible state government toward more action to protect us Texas citizens during climate disasters and emergencies. When people with connections start to apply pressure, that often helps do the trick more than the loudest screaming from those who don’t have access to power. It makes me sad to type that but it’s true.
This is something I haven’t seen discussed: this tragedy happened to affluent people. And that means there *will* be hell to pay because most of the affluent parents/families have lawyers and they will be suing the shiz out of everyone who contributed to this horror.
Maga voters voted to hurt non-white people, poor people, immigrants, etc. They did NOT vote to have affluent white people harmed/affected in any way.
So while I hate that anyone died in the floods and I feel deep sympathy for their families (regardless of how they voted) it will be interesting to see how this plays out punishment/accountability wise vs the lack of punishment/accountability meted out for the Uvalde massacre.
Trump and the Republicans are about to find out what happens when their murderous policies affect rich, white people.
Anyway, make sure you are registered to vote, know your local official voting website, and make a plan to vote in every. damn. election.
This exactly. People are assuming this was a camp for poorer kids because it was such a rural area, but these are girls from some of the most well connected and affluent families in the state. They will be applying some serious pressure and I do wonder what will come of that. This isn’t going to disappear as easily as it would if all the victims were poor/black/brown like so often is the case.
BlueNailsBetty, you’re right. And some of the parents of these kids are lawyers themselves. They might not specialize is plaintiffs work of this kind but they know how to find people to represent them and how to deploy them. My husband is a lawyer in Houston (I used to be, though in the non profit sector) and he says yes, there will be law suits. They can sue for emotional distress damages, too. He won’t be involved in any of those suits because it’s not his field either, but there will be Houston attorneys and firms involved I am sure.
AFTER!!!!!!!!
Make your choice STUPIDITY or CRUELTY
MAGA eyes are opening. They are receiving what they voted for and they need to suck it up. When you learn that the Biden administration provided them with funds to prevent this disaster but they were so brainwashed with the MAGA propaganda that they used the funds to give raises to the police department and some of it disappeared into other things, you become numb to their suffering. Texas suffers because Texas continues to elect corrupt, incompetent individuals. This administration is spotlighting incompetence and corruption. MAGA is slowing realizing that they are the dumb mark in a well crafted con and they will be suffering the most.
People who voted for Trump forgot the age old dating advice, if they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it to you.
it’s so fascinating to read all the news articles about the awful things that are happening in the USA, the deportation of family members, the homes and lives lost to disasters, the inflation, and then down at the bottom of the piece it ever so casually mentions that the victims *were* proud Trump supporters.
How do you destroy a country? Dismantle the government that benefits the people. Republicans have been doing this for years. We are a third world country with decent technology. I hope folks will one day realize this and act accordingly.
As far as the “decent technology” part, the tech used to share information and coordinate emergency responses at across the fed, state, county and local agencies depends on US companies that have seen their contracts …and cash flow … dry up this year, not only for roll out to addl agencies, but for continued use and support to address the inevitable cross-agency translation issues. Funding is drying up because potential sales have withered … the government funding for any of it has been pulled/cut. A friend who works at one says that tech and service staff have been cut to the bare minimum, more layoffs are coming, and the company will likely be shuttered this year.
The chickens are coming home to roost, unfortunately this all will get worse, more chaotic… and deadly, and the Trump administration Does Not Care.
Horrible – the whole point of having an agency that deploys in emergencies is to provide immediate support. Search and rescue of CHILDREN should not be held up by paperwork delays. Every hour counts; every minute counts.
@Giddy thank you for sharing – I’m relieved that your girls are safe.
She needed time to figure out if those children deserved rescue. Were they checking the voting results to see if the kids’ parents “supported” their dictator??
Willing to bet she was simply on vacation somewhere & her staff were told not to contact her for anything.
I’m from the Texas hill country and I get really sick of people saying that MAGA got what they wanted. No one wanted this and I’m not remotely MAGA and my kids used to go to camps there and people in my circles and community have lost children.
I hate MAGA with my entire soul, but even I could imagine the depths of evil in Kristi Noem. Trump in some ways is a lot of talk. But his new minions relish in causing pain.
Sorry Elsa but maga did get exactly what they voted for. If they had used their ears and brains he told them exactly what they would get now they are having some remorse. They thought he would do all theses horrific things to others but not them. They need no defending they got what they asked for! Trump and his minions want to cause pain and to get revenge on those they think have not liked them.
MAGA did want this. It’s all laid out in Project 2025 & it is EXACTLY what they wanted. Break up NOAA & the NWS because they focus on climate change, which is bad for industry. Specifically the gas & oil industry. Children in Texas are getting sick & dying from a terrible measles outbreak, MAGA doesn’t want vaccinations. Texas is having people snatched off the streets, out of churches, at the courthouse, in schools, because they have brown skin & talk with an accent. MAGA doesn’t want immigrants. MAGA is a death cult & does not care about children, not anyone’s children.
I don’t think most people who voted for Trump wanted children to drown in a flood, of course not. But they wanted deep cuts to government spending on public health and safety. It was in the platform. They ran on it. Maybe a lot of people who voted for it were not paying close attention and didn’t know this was coming, but that’s not an excuse. This was predictable.
For the record I also live in Texas (Houston). My kids went to camp in the Hill Country, not near the Guadalupe but not too far from the Brazos which did flood recently with deadly results. There are green and pink ribbons tied to trees all over my neighborhood. Our friend’s two daughters were at Camp Mystic as counselors when this happened. Thankfully they are OK.
This is painful and I would never wish this on any parent or child, no matter for whom they voted. But elections have consequences and people in this state need to open their damned eyes. We have had freezes, storms and floods that killed and displaced people in large part because of callousness and incompetence. It’s not OK. I’m sick and tired of the people in power not giving a damn about our safety.
@Maisiesmom I get what you are saying but I think you might be forgetting that maga voters absolutely want bad things to happen to brown people, poor people, disabled people, homeless people, immigrants, etc. What rich and/or white maga voters failed to understand is the murderous policies they voted for encompassed *everyone*, not just the people they desperately need to feel superior to.
So yes, maga voters voted for a regime with policies that would end up killing children. They just didn’t think the leopards would be allowed near *their* children.
This IS what MAGA voted for. If they didn’t understand what they were voting for, well, that’s a tragedy for the rest of us — that MAGA voters may, only now, be realizing will impact them as well.
Generations of federal, state, and local agencies are at fault for allowing both permanent and seasonal housing in an area highly prone to flooding. Communities at perpetual risk of flooding along the Mississippi have been relocated. The same should have been true for “flash flood alley.”
“Generations of federal, state, and local agencies are at fault…” rather than the free market based businesses which — for generations— chose to build and even expand their businesses on a known floodplain? That’s an interesting perspective @Megan. Texas is very much a Republican dominated state — which used to mean being very much against government interference, especially in business matters. At what point should interventions derided by voters as “nanny state” obstructions hindering personal and economic freedoms be forced upon people who resist them?
Maga probably did want *other* kids to die, but they absolutely voted for kids and the elderly to die. The extreme cuts to medicaid were well advertised and will cause death. It’s documented. And making people afraid of vaccines and making vaccines less accessible will (and already has) caused kids to die. And women are dying from not being able to access medical care when having a miscarriage.
Maga thinks that certain people do not deserve to live. They are only upset that they were too stupid to figure out that they were going to die, too.
The Republican plan is to shift disaster response to the states so the non-renewal of FEMA call center worker contracts is in line with that agenda item. Nothing will change the direction of this new policy. The contracts only got renewed because of the bad press. If a state like Texas can’t take on the responsibilities of FEMA, I am doomed here in New Orleans.
Yeah. They’re completely forgetting the name of their agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Of all the horrifying things to have come out after that disastrous weekend–those poor kids!–including that this is all going according to Project 2025’s plan (break up NOAA & NWS because they, gasp, study the data related to climate change), this one really turned my stomach & made me heart sick. Four contract call companies fielded the calls exceedingly well and she let their contract expire and she let it???? And let’s not forget, this is was the same weekend as her stupid ICE Barbie poll–which profile photo do you prefer? she asked her lemming followers. At this rate, I’m not sure hell is going to have enough room for these people. Then again, considering how they’re treating people at the concentration camp in Florida, they don’t need ‘enough’ room. Just keep shoving ’em in there.
Will she and her cronies be held accountable?
A lot of people died in TX. This administration were warned mths ago that cuts to NWS would cause consequences as they are the first line of defense to provide warnings to floods, hurricanes,
Tornadoes etc- more important to red states. Her own actions will eventually come back to haunt her. She thinks she’s Christian 🙄- yeah sure.
And the MAGAs well fafo
In order to not alienate his base, Trump will start providing assistance only to republican-led states and towns. And it won’t stop there, he will discriminate against blue areas wherever he can — funds for education, highways, etc. Maybe even lifesaving things like drugs and vaccines will be doled out based on who helped HIM. I really hope the vicious MAGAs who put this man in office because of their resentment over their own bad lives (ironically brought about because they consistently voted republican), are judged accordingly at the end.
He already is….I live in New England and he’s got a big bullseye on Massachusetts. The battle with Harvard and to a lesser extent Brown gets headlines, but his cuts are also decimating the health science research sector; ICE raids are killing the fishing, nursing home and other industries, etc. New Hampshire is the only real MAGA state, despite Susan Collins continuing to get elected in Maine.
What will be interesting is if someday Mass. and the other states decide to stop sending money to the feds and keep in state because much as Felon47 wants to punish blue states, they also send a WHOLE lot more money to the feds than red states.
“Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000…” Any major disaster relief expense is going to be above $100K and we are entering high hurricane season. And this administration knows that. They. Are. Trying. To. Kill. Us.